Masanya creator Oleg Kuvaev sentenced in absentia to over 4 years in prison
On 5 October 2026 Deutsche Welle reported that a St. Petersburg court sentenced Oleg Kuvaev, creator of the Masanya cartoon series, in absentia to four years and one month in a general-regime colony over an episode that called on Russian soldiers to surrender and desert.
On Monday, 5 October 2026, Deutsche Welle reported that the Nevsky District Court of St. Petersburg sentenced Oleg Kuvaev, creator of the animated series “Masanya”, in absentia to four years and one month in a general-regime colony. The city’s united courts press service announced the ruling the same day.
According to the press release cited by DW, the case rested on a YouTube video titled “Masanya. Episode 169. Idoliyada.” The release said the recording contained public calls for Russian Armed Forces personnel to surrender, desert and disobey superiors’ orders, and advertised the “I Want to Live” project — a single center for Russian servicemen seeking to surrender, created with support from Ukraine’s Defence Ministry.
Kuvaev was also accused of ignoring Russian “foreign agent” rules by failing to file activity reports with the Justice Ministry. Besides the prison term, the court banned him for four years from posting online; it did not say how that ban would be enforced.
In December 2023 Russia’s Justice Ministry listed Kuvaev as a “foreign agent” for criticizing Russia’s war against Ukraine. Soon after the full-scale invasion he released several anti-war Masanya episodes, DW noted.
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